A new twist to the controversy surrounding how a Ghanaian woman managed to smuggle 12 kilos of cocaine to the UK through the Kotoka International Airport has emerged.
Speculation that the 32-year-old woman arrested at Heathrow Airport on November 10 travelled on a Ghanaian diplomatic passport prompted a response from Ghana’s Narcotic Control Board (NACOB).
The Board, in a statement signed by its Deputy Executive Secretary Richard Nii Lante Blankson, clarified that, “Ms. Nayele Ametefe travelled on an Austrian passport number P4187659 and not on Ghanaian Diplomatic passport as being speculated.”
It stated further that the arrest of the woman, who had in her possession an ordinary Ghanaian passport with the number G0364497 and issued on August 3, 2012, was the result of a collaboration between the Board and its British partners.
Representatives from two Ghanaian media houses, which reported the story of the arrest claiming the woman travelled on a Ghanaian passport and used the VIP section of the KIA airport, were invited by the Bureau of National Investigations for questioning.
The cocaine, estimated at £3.5 million ($5 million), was wrapped in two different blocks of 10 kilos and 2 kilos and was concealed in her handbag.
Issues surrounding the story, particularly speculation that she travelled on a diplomatic passport, used the VIP lounge and managed to smuggle the substance in a handbag sparked a debate on Ghana’s seriousness about drug trafficking.
But just when the dust was settling, the British High Commission in Accra on Friday stoked the issue again when it issued a disclaimer that the UK never collaborated with the Board in the arrest of Ms. Ametefe.
“UK authorities had no prior knowledge of the intentions of Ms. Nayele Ametefeh before flying from Accra to London on 9/10 November,” the statement said.
However, it admitted the UK authorities have since 2006 worked closely with the Board “to ensure that, wherever possible, any potential drug trafficker to the UK from Ghana is arrested here in Ghana and not permitted to board a flight in order to traffic drugs.”
This development has cast doubt about the credibility of the Board that has, since its establishment in 1990, been tasked primarily to control and enforce drug and drug-related laws in the country.
Ghana’s image is now at stake, and it behoves the Board to immediately come out to produce evidence to back its claim of collaboration, and the nature of the support offered the UK partners in this incident. Failure to do so puts the name of Ghana and its institutions into disrepute.
Undoubtedly, Ghana has with the help of its international partners done much over the years to make its ports unattractive to drug traffickers, although there have been challenges and low points.
However, the statement by the British High Commission has triggered calls for heads to roll at the Narcotics Control Board. Are these calls justified? Oh yes! It’s about time that public officials were held accountable for their actions and inactions in this country. It’s unfortunate that an established institution like NACOB would come up with claims which are not a true reflection of the situation on the ground.
Was the NACOB statement just to claim credit for itself, or was it intended to absolve itself and by extension Ghana from being viewed as complicit? Clearly, that part of the statement smacks of dishonesty.
A critical examination of the NACOB statement raises further more pertinent issues worth mulling over. Did NACOB’s claim of collaboration mean it knew the woman was carrying drugs? If so, now that it’s been clarified there was no collaboration, would it be right for anyone to say then that its officials at the airport colluded with the suspect?
Are the NACOB officials who were at post at the airport on the day the lady left Accra still at post? These people should have been the first people to be investigated since it was under their watch that the woman smuggled the drugs.
Also, why should NACOB issue a statement to clarify that the woman did not travel on a diplomatic passport when we have the Passport Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Has NACOB become an appendage of the Foreign Ministry?
It’s unfortunate that till date the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has failed to come out to confirm or deny the claims that the woman used the VIP lounge at the KIA. In any case, does it mean that the VIP users are not subjected to search? Clearly, there is a lot of confusion at our airport and everybody appears to do what he pleases. Can’t the Ghana Airport Authority crack the whip and restore respectability?
